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Alignment System
Discover the Liforme Alignment System, designed to enhance your yoga practice with precise alignment markers and superior grip. Achieve better balance, focus, and safety in every pose with our eco-friendly mats, trusted by Yogis worldwide.
Why Alignment Matters
Alignment is the term used in Yoga to describe the precise placement of the body in each pose. From your toes to your crown, every part of you has an optimal position in every posture. Although this may sound proscriptive, alignment is actually a
flexible system that includes variations, modifications, and the use of props to make every pose work for every body.
The significance of integrating immediate, intuitive, visual alignment feedback into your Yoga practice cannot be emphasised enough. Without it, Yogis may can weaken their body through repetitive incorrect placement or alignment. At Liforme, we recognise the importance of this aspect and have developed an alignment guide that works for all bodies, all types of Yoga and levels.
What are the benefits?
Injury Prevention
Each Yoga pose has an optimal alignment that respects the natural range of motion of your joints. Alignment guides help you to understand how to position your joints correctly, ensuring that the appropriate muscles are engaged and supporting the movement. This engagement helps distribute the load evenly across your muscles, reducing the risk of overuse or strain.
Better Form & Posture
Alignment guides encourage you to pay attention to symmetry and balance in your poses. They provide visual guidance on how to align different parts of the body, allowing you to build each posture form the ground up. If your feet, for instance, are improperly placed, it can throw off your hips and shoulders, leading to imbalance, poor posture and overcompensation elsewhere.
Progression
Consistently practising good alignment allows you to safely advance in your Yoga practice. Alignment guides help you develop greater body awareness and your understanding of alignment principles, so you can deepen your practice and explore more advanced poses, making new poses feel more accessible.
Liforme's AlignForMe® System
We created the unique and original AlignForMe® System as a navigational tool for your Yoga practice. The combination of intelligent markers gives you as much, or as little, guidance as you need. Whether you're in a class setting or practicing at home, our alignment guide encourages you to attain optimal alignment, enhancing the effectiveness and transformative potential of your practice.
Central Line
The Central Line is the backbone of the AlignForMe® system. It runs strongly down the length of the mat so you can always tell if you’re set up symmetrically. When the feet or hands are meant to be parallel, as in Mountain Pose, Downward Facing Dog, or Plank, a simple glance down allows you to make sure your extremities are equidistant from the line.
End-to-End Lines
The End-to-End Lines work in concert with the Central Line, providing another important reference point. In Downward Facing Dog, these lines are particularly helpful guides for placing the hands and feet evenly. Two different sets of End-to-End Lines are provided to account for the wide variety of heights and positions.
45° Lines
In standing postures, the 45° Lines provide a visual reference to help you align your back heel and find stability in poses such as Pyramid, Warrior I and Warrior II.
Reverse Points
When you’re preparing for a pose like Reverse Table Top or Wheel, use the triangular Reverse Points as guides for the hands and feet to help you find shoulders’ distance and hips’ distance apart. Since they are equidistant from the Central Line, the triangular reverse points and also be used as another visual reference for a balanced set-up in poses like Cat-Cow and Plank.
The Lotus
Right at the centre of your mat, the Lotus bloom (or other centrepiece) anchors the AlignForMe® design in symmetry, ensuring balance and stability and giving you another way to grow and elevate your practice while staying rooted in alignment.
How to use our AlignForMe® Guide
Example 1: Downward Dog
1. Align Your Hands: Place your hands shoulder-width apart on the mat, with your fingers spread wide. Position your palms directly over the end to end lines at the top of your mat to ensure that your hands are aligned with your shoulders.
2. Set Your Feet: Step your feet back, placing your heels on the end to end lines towards the bottom of the mat.
3. Hinge at the Hips: On an exhale, lift your hips upward and back, coming into an inverted V shape. Keep your arms straight and strong, with your shoulders away from your ears.
4. Check Alignment: Use the alignment guide on the mat to ensure that your hands and feet are positioned symmetrically along the lines. Adjust as needed to maintain perfect posture.
Example 2: Wheel Pose
1. Bend Your Knees: Sit down on your mat, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the reverse points of your mat, hip-width apart. Keep your feet parallel to each other.
2. Position Your Hands: Place your palms on the other set of reverse points, shoulder-width apart, with your fingers pointing towards your feet. Ensure that your hands are aligned with your shoulders and wrists parallel to the front edge of the mat.
3. Lift Your Hips: On an inhale, press into your hands and feet, lifting your hips towards the ceiling. Straighten your arms as you lift your pelvis, creating a straight line from your shoulders to your knees.
4. Check Alignment: Use the alignment guide on the mat to ensure that your hands and feet are positioned symmetrically along the lines. Adjust as needed to maintain perfect posture.
Liforme Classic Yoga Mat
These lines help Yogis of all levels enhance keep your hands & feet evenly aligned, length-ways. They help aid accurate positioning of hands, feet, and body throughout sequences.
In standing postures, the 45° Lines provide a visual reference to help you to align your back heels and find stability and perfect posture in poses such as Warrior I and Warrior II.
Use the Lotus, or centrepiece of your alignment guide, to align yourself with the centre of your mat, which serves as the root of your symmetry, ensuring balance and stability as you ground yourself in the heart of your practice.
The central line on the Liforme Yoga Mat aids in establishing evenness and width-wise alignment, ensuring balanced positioning of hands and feet in poses like Downward Facing Dog or Plank Pose.
The Reverse Points assist Yogis in maintaining proper form and symmetry by providing visual cues for hand and foot placement when on their back.